After Coutrycide AU
by Tripod Gal
Summary: Jack looks after a hurt and helpless Ianto. And gains something in return. JackIanto. Don't like, don't read. My take on what should have happened.
1. Chapter 1

Jack let himself sag slightly in relief as the last of the cannibals were locked away. He felt truly horrified at the carnage, and after talking with Gwen to the lead cannibal; he began to understand that it was just like the last time he had seen something like this.

He felt the guilt beginning to rise inside of him like a serpent making itself at home inside his gut, he couldn't believe how wrong this mission had gone.

Gwen had been shot she was being checked out by the paramedics at the moment, but otherwise she was fine.

Owen was fine, he was only slightly bruised and would be right as rain in the morning. But he was very shook up about what he had seen, but Jack knew that he would deal with it in his own way and put it behind him.

He felt his face wince in sympathy when he saw Tosh walking with a slight limp. He had kept on saying that she and Ianto were fine and that they could look after themselves to stop himself from worrying about them, but because he didn't look harder they had both been injured and nearly killed. He felt an echo of the rage he had felt when he had entered the house pass through him and he managed to control himself so that no one could see his rage. Remembering seeing his team bound on the floor and Ianto, barely conscious with a cleaver held to his neck had shook his confidence down to his core.

Jack pulled Tosh close to him as she finally let out what she was feeling inside to surface. He whispered soothing nonsense 'till she calmed down.

"S-S-sorry Jack. It's just- all he wanted to do was make s-sure I got free, with no thought of himself and when they ha-had the c-c-cleaver against h-his throa-" Tosh's eyes welled up with tears again and Jack pulled her even closer.

"Shhh, it's okay Toshiko. You're fine, he's fine, no one else has died. Just concentrate on the good things that we have, try and forget about the bad things. Now, you've been checked out? Okay, so I expect to not see you at work for at least four days, no arguments okay?" Tosh nodded and went to sit in the backseats of the SUV. Gwen walked over, keeping a hand over her gunshot wound.

"I can't believe that these people would do this! It's just wrong. And I got shot." She complained and they both started to walk back towards the SUV together.

'_Typical Gwen._' Jack thought to himself. _'She complains about me not having enough humanity, but she managed to forget her boyfriend and go off with Owen AND she forgets that both Tosh and Ianto were hurt.'_

"I'm not really sure why they did it," he lied, "I'm just going to get Owen and find out how Ianto is." Gwen look shocked, as though she couldn't believe that she had forgotten about him and Jack allowed a smirk to cross his face when he turned his back on her.

Rushing over to the ambulance, he saw Owen conferring with two paramedics next to an unconscious Ianto on a stretcher.

"Is he okay." Jack asked, gently running his hand over Ianto's face, carefully avoiding the bruises.

"If it were any other day. I would make sure that he was taken to the hospital and kept there for at least a week. But under the circumstances, the hospital is full, and this doctor here says that you are able to take care of him, so I trust you with him. He has a severe concussion, broken ribs, a now-fixed dislocated shoulder, and a broken right tibia. He'll need constant care for at least five days. After that he'll just need someone to look after him and make sure that he rests."

"That'll be fine with us. I'll make sure that he rests, even if I have to tie him to the bed. Do we have to wake him? You said that he has a severe concussion." Jack asked, running his fingers through Ianto's soft curly hair.

"No Jack." Owen answered, "We don't have to because we gave him some painkillers and a sedative to put him under. When he wakes up I want to do a preliminary exam and then I'll see if I need to put him back under." He said this while he checked an unnoticed portable drip in Ianto's left arm. He and Jack then carefully rolled the stretcher as gently as they could towards the SUV.

"I'll drive Jack, it won't take us long to get back to the hub, but I'll need you to hold Ianto against you. He might not be 100 percent comfortable with you at the moment, but it's for his own good. Okay, I'll set him up with you in the hub and come and check on him periodically, but I have other commitments. I promised some people at the hospital that I would come. They need all the help they can get. That all right?"

Jack nodded and opened the backseat doors. Tosh was sitting on the far side and from he side vision Jack saw Owen nod to her and seemingly ask her a question to which he responded with a sigh and a tired nod. Between himself and Owen, they managed to get Ianto to they middle of the seat, being careful of his broken leg, with his back against Jack's chest. Owen then grabbed the keys he passed to him and got into the drivers seat.

TorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwood

The drive back to the hub was silent, everyone was ingrossed in their own thoughts, not wanting to disturb the others. The only sound was the occasional rasping breath from Ianto's otherwise still body. Jack carefully ran his hand through Ianto's soft curly hair, trying to stop any nightmares from making a frontal assault on Ianto's subconscious when he was totally vulnerable.

Ianto sighed slightly and snuggled closer to Jack's warm body. Jack felt his insides glow warmly as he felt this. He knew that when Ianto was conscious he was too busy trying to hate him to consider his other feelings, but when he was asleep it was a different matter. Jack knew from past experience that Ianto suffered from truly horrifying nightmares and often woke up screaming or just not sleeping at all. Ianto had occasionally fallen asleep in the hub when he was supposed to be working and when Jack was there, he made sure that he was as comfortable as possible, but even when Ianto had first come to Torchwood Three, he'd had nightmares, and it was a common occurrence for Jack to sooth away his nightmares and make sure that he slept properly without Ianto knowing about it.

Unlike the other three, Ianto had his own room in the hub. He often stayed over all night and kept more than a few spare changes of clothing there. On late nights, Jack and he used to talk for ages and had got to know each other quite well. It was on one of those nights that Jack realised that he was falling in love with him. He had carefully hidden it and continued like normal until he found out about Lisa. He knew he should have been mad at him, but such talent, such devotion, such love. What it would feel like to have Ianto give such devotion to him.

Looking around at his team, he felt kind of happy, even amongst their biggest mistake yet. While it might not have worked out that well, his plan to get Ianto integrated into the team firmly had started off with a bang. He had already known that Tosh and Ianto were close friends, and instead of that friendship being ruined by Lisa, somehow it had made it stronger; Ianto had even taught Tosh a few tricks on the computer. She had always considered him an excellent person to stay at the hub but she had never realised that when he was at Torchwood 1 he was a field agent.

Jack remembered her face when she had found out and laughed silently to himself, continuing to stroke Ianto's hair, noticing his face scrunching up slightly in pain and frowning lightly. Jack felt his brow crease, as from what Owen had told him, Ianto should still be out for a while longer. Hoping that it wasn't a reaction to the medication, Jack gently shushed him and kissed the top of his head.

Turning his head around, he watched the gently flickering lights around him, light gentle candles waving in the light, almost glowing as the SUV passed them, as though happy with their being here, signifying their return to Cardiff and closer towards the hub and their on average everyday life.

Ianto mumbled slightly and Tosh leaned over and gently hushed him, singing a soft song in Japanese, by the way Ianto's face relaxed and how Tosh smiled, it was a lullaby.

TorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwood

Finally, they pulled up at the hubs garage. Owen had dropped Gwen then Tosh at their respective houses and they had made their way slowly back here.

Jack watched Owen run out quickly and retrieve a stretcher, rolling it round until it reached the door and he then helped Jack gently place Ianto on it.

The trip down to the autopsy room felt completely unnecessary to Jack, because he was planning on taking Ianto down to his room to stay there while he recovered; but he knew that Owen needed to check him out properly and fix his leg and ribs.

Sitting down next to the examination table, Jack fixed himself a tumbler of whisky. He knew that he was in for a hell of a lot of trouble in the next few days. Watching silently, he felt a small pang inside him as he felt Ianto's pain telepathically. Ianto, like himself was a fully capable telepath, but he was also empathic. This was he was so quiet and shy and also why he didn't want to go out on field work with the team as he would need someone to ground him. Jack would quite happily offer, but at the moment Ianto was more likely to slit his own wrists than let Jack be his emotional anchor.

Things between them were slowly getting better though.

After the incident with the fairies and Estelle, with the rest of the team hating him and telling Ianto that they agreed with him and that he was a monster, Jack had expected Ianto to agree with them, but Ianto had not; he had stuck to the Captain and showed the others through persuasion that it wasn't Jacks fault, and that there was nothing else that he could have done.

The whole world would be turned to ice if he hadn't let Jasmine go and by the time he did, she wasn't truly human and there was no way for her to change back. Gwen had argued passionately against Ianto, asking him WHY he was siding with the Captain and Yan had simply replied in his calm voice,

"What would YOU have done if you were in his position Gwen, would you of had the world freeze because of one little girl who wasn't even that by the time you got to her? There was nothing else to be done, you just want someone to blame and to do your 'it's not fair' act against, if you're gonna do it. Do it for someone who deserves it, instead of someone who actually did the right thing."

Surprisingly, Owen and Tosh had agreed with Ianto and both had come up privately and apologised and told him that they had just been reacting to what they had seen, Jack letting a little girl go off with the creatures who had readily killed at least two other people for thinking of hurting her.

Jack shook himself slightly, noticing Ianto finally waking up, he leg in a crisp white cast and firm bandages around his chest, protecting his ribs.

Murmuring softly to him, Jack listened quietly to Owen's instructions and vaguely felt him leave.

He had already scanned Ianto to make sure that he was well enough to be left with Jack and was satisfied that Jack knew what he was doing.

The Captain watched Ianto's eyes flutter before opening to half mast, revealing tired, slightly bloodshot eyes.

"Sir?"

"Shh. Don't try to speak Ianto. You're safe, we're at the hub, and you're home. I'm gonna look after you. Everything's going to be alright. I'm here to take care of you. Just rest now."


	2. Fighting help

Ianto slowly awoke, automatically knowing that he was in an unfamiliar place, but also feeling strangely secure.

Cracking open his eyes slightly, he tried to move his head, only to feel the gentle pressure of someone's hands on either side of his head, stopping him from moving, but not aggravating the pain inside his head.

Panicking, he opened his eyes widely; only to see the concerned but grinning face of Captain Jack Harkness, which was calming yet invigorating in his own way.

"Good to see you awake again Ianto. Calm down, Yan. You've been badly hurt and need to rest. Captains orders." He grinned cheekily at him, but Ianto was just confused.

Hurt? Him? What happened? All he did was stay in the Hub, there wasn't really anything dangerous about that. What could have possibly caused this to-

"The Cannibals!" He managed to gasp out, his arms flailing, heart rate rising. He started to struggle against Jack, trying to get free, not listening to what he was being told.

"Ianto! I need you to calm down! You're hurting yourself even more. Don't do this!"

Ianto ignored him, trying to push back against Jack's arms that were pinning down his own, effectively trapping the top part of his body.

"Tosh!" He yelled to himself. "They'll hurt her! Got to get free. Gotta help Tosh!" He was panting heavily, exhausted, still trying to break free until Jack covered him with his own torso, stopping any movement.

"Ianto! They can't hurt Tosh, she's safe. You're safe! Listen. You're in the Hub, in my room; with me; no one else is here! No one can help you. Just calm down! You're doing yourself even more damage!

Ianto scrunched his face up, trying to turn away from Jack's insistent face. Lies. That's all that was being told to him. Lies, everything was lies.

He kept on struggling, even though he knew it was futile.

"Yan, I'm sorry; but I've got to do this, it's the only way you won't hurt yourself any more."

Ianto heard this distantly, barely noticing Jack pick his arm up and hold it steady until he felt as if ice was flowing into his arm in his veins and around his body, only heating it up once it had passed, but leaving a weird sensation behind.

His face was gripped gently in a strong hand and he forgot his fears and looked up angrily at Jack.

"What did you do?" His voice dripped with hatred and it showed on his face.

Jack's face showed remorse as he looked pleadingly at Ianto lying below him.

"It was the only thing that would stop you." Jack lifted his arm up until it was in Ianto's line of vision. On his wrist, there was a small green patch.

Ianto tried angrily to pull his arm free of Jack's grip, but felt no sensation in it, his arm didn't move.

Jack looked upset.

"It's a medical patch from the 51st century. They're designed with rowdy or seriously injured patients in mind. It contains a drug that overrides your nervous system; you won't have any control of your body. Sorry, but it's the only way!"

Ianto closed his eyes and felt Jack rearrange his limbs and torso into a more comfortable position.

The warmth that had disappeared reasserted itself and Ianto saw that Jack had moved the blanket back off the floor and over him and was running his wrist-band over hid body, frowning at the results.

"Well it looks like you managed to break another two ribs and bruise the muscles in your arm in the process. You've just managed to help what the cannibals started," he began running his fingers through Ianto's hair when he noticed the expression he got when he mentioned the Cannibals.

"Shh, Yan. It's okay. They're all locked away; they aren't going to hurt anyone ever again."

He smiled in relief as Ianto' s eyes opened carefully, shyly.

"They gone?" Ianto's voice held a childish quality as the concussion and drugs fully took effect.

"Yeah, Yan. They are all gone now. Forever." Jack leaned over and kissed him softly on the forehead before propping him up and picking up a bowl of soup.

"Let's see if you can get this down," he held up a hand when Ianto opened his mouth to argue.

"No arguments. You are either going to eat this, or I'm gonna stick a tube down your throat and nose." He held up the spoon and they tried, but Ianto couldn't swallow it, it caused too much pain.

Patting Ianto's hair soothingly as he struggled to cough, he reflected that he probably should have realised that with his damaged ribs, Ianto wouldn't be able to eat anything.

"Hush now, Yan. It's okay, I'll just give you the tubing when you're asleep. Just relax."

He carefully laid the distressed Welshman back down, closing the tired eyes and settling him down properly; waiting patiently until his breathing had leveled out before setting up the equipment and inserting the tubing and the solution.

Finally done, he lay down next to the sleeping man and cuddled him into his arms softly; whispering quietly to try and keep him asleep before kissing the bruised forehead, whispering,

"I love you." And gently sleeping himself.

TORCHWOODTORCHWOODTORCHWOOD

"I thought I told you to sleep." Jack frowned disapprovingly as Ianto blearily opened his bloodshot eyes.

"Ngh. My nose feels weird."

"It'll be like that for a while." He nuzzled his nose into the silky hair, smiling at the little happy noises that Ianto unconsciously made.

"Why are you doing this? You don't need to look after me, I'm fine."

Jack frowned at him, "I'm doing this because I want to. You are part of my team. I look after my team. You are also my friend, but you shut yourself off from the rest of us and that worries me. Also, you look after us so well that we sometimes forget that occasionally you need to be looked after and right now I'm here and I am more than happy to care for you."

He said this while carefully checking the tubing lines, then the bandages on his ribs, ensuing that they were tight enough.

He had been shocked when Owen had shown him the true extent of Ianto's injuries and had made a promise to look after Ianto, so that he wouldn't ever feel inclined to go on without telling anyone.

Keeping his mind fixed firmly on the extent of Ianto' s injuries, he lifted the blanket and checked the cast on the Welshman's right leg, making sure that his eyes didn't stray up any higher on his naked friend.

The wrist patch was still firmly in place and the IV port was still correctly aligned.

He checked the list given to him by Owen and after looking at the clock on the nightstand, picked up a needle from the kit he had been given and looked Ianto in the eye.

"You have a severe concussion, Yan and I promised Owen that I would give you this sedative periodically and I intent to keep that promise. I'll be here when you wake up okay?"

He didn't wait for a reply and gently inserted the syringe into the IV line and watched the worry lines smooth over as sleep took over the young man.


	3. Understanding and Talks

Ianto felt a soothing hand running through his hair, stroking it softly as he came back to awareness

Ianto felt a soothing hand running through his hair, stroking it softly as he came back to awareness. Opening his eyes he looked at Jack's benevolent face; he tried to sit up, until he remembered the patch on his wrist keeping his still. He felt annoyance growing inside of him, hating the fact that he was completely helpless.

"Hey Yan. How're you feeling now?" He rubbed his fingers gently over Ianto's wrist, subtly checking the medical patch on his wrist. He focused on Ianto's face; noticing that he still had a slightly dazed look in his eyes, the visible result of his concussion.

Ianto growled lightly at the question, unhappy at the predicament that he was in because of the cannibles.

"I want to move about! Why won't you let me?! I'm tired of having to be here." Ianto's angry words were accompanied by what Jack assume was another attemot to fight the drug in his system.

He considered what to do for a moment, before he carefully lifted Ianto into his lap; his head resting on his chest, as he checked that all the lines were correct, especially the tubing in his nose as he knew that if it became twisted or tangled it would be very uncomfortable for Ianto.

Kissing the top of the black head he looked into the angry eyes. "I understand Ianto. But you've only been here for a day and you'll have to be here for at least another six days. I know you want to move about but you _can't_, you're injured and you'll hurt yourself even more and I don't want to see you like this ever again; let alone worse!"

He stroked a thumb over the downy cheek. "Can't you understand that, Yan?" He looked down and saw realisation in Ianto's eyes, still tinged with upset.

"I understand Jack. I wish that you don't have to see me hurt and useless like this. I can't comprehend why those, those," he stopped, tears forming in his eyes. "Those people did those things." The tears spilled over and Jack tenderly thumbed them away.

"I know, Ianto. I know. But they're gone now and they are never going to hurt you or anyone else again." He glanced down towards his wrist strap and checked on Ianto's health. "Don't think about what they did or why they did it," his mind flashed to when the leader whispered those dreaded words. Bringing himself back, he forced Ianto's sliding eyes to meet his and he gently ran a hand down his arm soothingly; smiling as Ianto seemed to accept what he was saying.

"What you need to concentrate on," Jack gave a mock severe look, "is to get better so we can get back to running Torchwood, as we can't survive without you!"

At this Ianto smiled, but then he started to cough; struggling to catch some air. Jack looked concerned and lifted the young man into a straighter position, trying to help.

Ianto continued to cough and splutter and Jack rubbed his back lightly; not wanting to pat his back because of the broken ribs. Slowly Ianto stopped and Jack brought a glass of water over, holding it up in front of Ianto.

"Do you think that you can manage this?" He asked softly, aware that Ianto was in pain from his ribs. He soothingly ran his fingertips over Ianto's bruised shoulder and smiled gently at this young child that trusted him so completely even though he had killed his love and had become so loyal that nothing he could do would shatter it, despite the fact that he was grieving; and because of this he gave him his rare but complete protection and loyalty.

"I think so." Ianto whispered and allowed Jack to hold it to his lips and tip his head back slightly.

He managed a little bit before his ribs protested and he started coughing and Jack removed the glass and carefully wiped the small trickles of water from his mouth.

"Thanks," Ianto murmured, blushing sightly in his embarrassment.

"Hey. It's okay; you don't ever have to be embarrassed with me." He ruffled the soft hair and lent his hand down to check on Ianto's cast on his leg without looking. "I've seen and done things in my life that you wouldn't believe, so trust me I've seen lots of things worse that anything you could through at me."

He checked his watch and noticed it was time for more of Ianto's medication. He gently lay Ianto back down, cradling his head down to the pillow. In the bag beside the bed, he produced three capped syringes, checking them carefully before turning to see Ianto's face which had flopped to the side slightly.

"I hope you aren't afraid of needles. 'Cause you're gonna be getting quite a few for a long time. You're quite banged up."

Ianto moaned good naturedly, before speaking. "Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of needles and try to get out of them if possible; but I'll survive. I hope."

Jack chuckled, loving Ianto's good sense of humour. He knelt on the side of the bed and held Ianto's arm securely and as he uncapped each needle he kept a running commentary.

"This first ones a pain killer, don't think I haven't noticed you grimacing in pain. You're a good actor, but not that good," he injected it into his arm, pleased to note he found a clear vein, as Ianto didn't always have the best veins. "This second one is a dose of nutrients and vitamins, the tubing will give you most of the energy that you need but it doesn't hurt to give it an extra boost."

Ianto sighed. "I wish I could just swallow my food normally. I could just hit that guy for going at me with a baseball bat," he was pleased with himself for not panicking when he mentioned the village leader.

Jack dropped the last needle onto the bed, his face going pale and he started shaking almost imperceptibly. "Wh-What did you say, Ianto?" He reached forward, pressing his face close to Ianto's.

"The man, the cannibal. He came at me with a, a baseball bat among other things." Ianto looked sheepish and looked down, expecting to be reprimanded for not telling the Captain sooner.

Jack didn't speak, he just saw red. He had allowed those villagers to live under the expectation that the police would deal with them accordingly and when he found out that they were to be sent to an isolation prison he was happy but now he wanted them to die. Each and every one of them. They were responsible for so many deaths and they had hurt his team. Had come at Ianto with a baseball bat! He clenched his fist to his body, deciding that when Ianto next fell asleep he would send a phone call to a member of UNIT and request a special favour.

"Jack," Ianto said nervously, starting to look up at the Captain in fear. "Jack. Please say something." He couldn't do anything apart from closing his eyes, hoping that his boss wouldn't yell at him for his mistake.

Jack looked down, seeing Ianto with his eyes closed and a look of apprehension of his face.

"Ianto. I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I never wanted for you to get hurt." Ianto's eyes opened and he glanced cautiously at him.

"You're not mad?"

Jack stared. "MAD? Ianto, I couldn't be more proud of you than I am! You were so brave and you helped get Tosh free, how could I be mad at you?"

Ianto smiled. "I'm glad." He closed his eyes as he heard Jack sigh before feeling a prick in his arm.

"Sleep tight, Yan. I'll make everything better. I promise. 

A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. Thank you to everyone for your support. Reviews would be appreciated so I know how I'm doing! bats eyelids and offers cookies


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